Blog Archives - Page 8 of 19 - Des Moines House Selling Specialists

Back to Crazy Low Interest Rates

I just need to point out what is going on in the rate market, because we are back to the crazy point that we haven’t seen since late 2017. Yesterday I saw 15 year mortgages at below 3%! 30 year mortgage rates are at 3.5%!

If you have thought about buying, this is an ideal time to get your rate locked in and put a house under contract. If you have a mortgage above 4.5%, look at refinancing. If you read my last post about the benefit of a 15 year mortgage, then I would recommend looking into it. My wife and I refinanced our 30 year mortgage into a 15 year mortgage when rates were at 3% last time. We lost mortgage insurance, and our payment went up only $100 per month and we saved six figures in interest!!!

Basically, look at your mortgages and see if this would be helpful. I can connect you with mortgage brokers if you need, just let me know. I do not know how long these rates will stick around, but I know if you have thought about moving, this will be one of the cheapest times to get a mortgage in history.

I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch

What Type of Mortgage Do You Have?

I am going to share an opinion that I thought might help some of you. My opinion is that a 15 year mortgage is a much better financial decision than a 30 year mortgage. I fully understand that a 15 year mortgage could potentially price you out of being able to buy where you want to buy. The monthly payments will be higher than a 30 year mortgage. What I am looking at when I say this is the full cost of your mortgage.

According to MortgageCalculator.org here is a simple idea of what I am talking about. If you were to buy a $200,000 home and put $5,000 down and get an interest rate at 4%, here is what you would pay over the life of your loan:

Total Payments over 30 Years = $343,595.54

Total Payments over 15 Years = $262,961.71

That is a difference of $80,633.83 over the life of your loan. Again, I fully understand that there will be a difference in payments. On the above 30 year option your monthly payment would be $1,012.21 while it would be $1,523.64 on the 15 year option (plus taxes and insurance for both). I am just saying that you are paying $80,000 less for the same house. Plus, you have 15 years less of payments. Imagine what you could do with an extra $1,500 a month for 15 years of your life.

Again, this is not for everyone. I just believe that not a lot of people understand this, and that some people will be blown away by this.

Now onto current market conditions in Central Iowa:

We are in a different market than we have had over the last few years. At this time of year over the last few years we have seen active listings and pending listings (listings that have been put under contract) be at almost the same level. That is not true this year. As of May 29th, 2019 there are currently 2,655 pending listings and 3,685 active listings.

What does that mean? Buyers are getting more cautious. Sellers are pricing their houses at the top of the market. Those two things combined mean that we are seeing things move a little slower. To be fair, we are only about 200 closed sales behind this time last year. And last year was record breaking. This is not a huge slow down. It is a slow down though.

It means that you need to make sure that you are pricing in line with the market and that you are paying attention to what is happening in your market. Simply, push the easy button and call me. I will give you more information than you know what to do with and I will help you interpret it. Then I will work with you to get you through negotiations and to closing day.

~Ryan Lynch

Stop and Think

We are in crazy time in real estate right now. Beautiful weather brings out buyers and sellers, and all of that pent up waiting from the Winter is unleashed. It is at this time that I like to remind you that patience is the best virtue in real estate.

For example, I recently had clients call with an “emergency” and they were racing at a million miles a minute over the phone. I listened to them and then calmly walked them through all of their options, some of which they didn’t even know they had. They were quite happy by the time they hung up, because the “emergency” was nowhere near as bad as they had assumed.

I love that I have so much experience. I have sold hundreds of homes as a realtor. I have owned rental property. I have flipped houses. I have done deals on the commercial side, and now I am even learning to help manage and grow commercial properties as well. It is amazing how something that you learn in one space can affect how you approach another space.

I would love to put that experience to work for you no matter what it is you need it for. Yesterday I was talking with someone that already had a realtor and I still ran a market analysis of their house so that they could have peace of mind. I love to help!

On to the market:

Looking at the DMAAR Home Stats, the latest numbers that they have for 2019 are for March. They definitely tell a story. In March 2018 we sold 1,123 houses. In March 2019 we sold 907 houses. That is a 19.2% drop!

I will be very interested in seeing April’s numbers once they are published. I think we are going to see a huge spike up in April and May. With the terrible winter that we had that just ended a month ago (mid-March), people were staying inside. We have so much pent up demand on both sides (buyers and sellers) that we are going to need a lot of houses to look at.

~Ryan Lynch

Client or Friend?

Busy season has hit! Right now everyone seems to be thinking about buying and selling in real estate. I really love having people that I work with that expect me to help and to tell them the truth.

I have had people asking me for Market Analyses of their homes, since many people just got a larger property tax bill. I just love having people call me wanting to ask a lot of questions. Questions about the market. Questions about their house. Questions about what is going on in the world. I am truly proud to have clients that are friends and sometimes simply want to talk.

I will admit that it is wonderful meeting people face to face for the first time who already trust me because I have been having conversations with them and working for them for free for years.

Thank you all for trusting me and leaning on me. I truly love helping and adding value. Let me know what I can do for you.

The Market:

Interest rates keep going down, and that is definitely driving up demand. The market has been very interesting. As of April 10th, 2019 we are currently at 2,239 houses Pending under contract. There are only 3,356 houses active on the market. That means that 40% of the market is under contract. This is actually low in comparison to the last few years.

What does this mean for buyers? You finally have a little bit more control. There is more inventory than there has been in years past and you have more to choose from, and in some instances, more time to make your choices. That on top of low interest rates means that it is a great time to buy.

What does that mean for sellers? It depends. the market is still incredibly tight in resale properties below $300,000. If that is what you are selling then you are still in a strong Seller’s Market. If you are resale above $300,000 or in new construction than there is higher than normal inventory. Frankly though, that doesn’t seem to be slowing the market down that much.

~Ryan Lynch

Which is More Important?

I recently had a conversation with a flipper/rehabber. They wanted to make a low ball offer on a listing of mine. They were working to sweeten the deal for me by asking me to represent them in the transaction as well. That way, I would get both sides of the deal.

The part of this that I think speaks volumes about why people work with me is that I had the thought that I am more concerned about having a happy client, than I am about getting paid.

As I am supposed to, I presented the offer. As I expected my seller said no thanks. That was it.

I am not going to pressure my clients into doing something that they don’t want. My goal is not to sell your house. My goal is that you like what I did for you so much that you want me to help you buy and sell houses for the next 30 years.

For the market part of my post, I am going to focus on interest rates:

According to Freddie Mac, interest rates nationwide just hit the lowest rate they have been at in the last 12 months. When you look at the numbers that they are reporting, (4.35% on a 30 year fixed) you will see that we are even lower than that in many banks in Des Moines and Central Iowa. If you are thinking about buying, the cheapest money in a year is a very good reason to get out and start looking.

~Ryan Lynch

I Really Want to Know!

I like to do what I tell people that I am going to do. I tell all of my clients that, if I have their phone number, they should expect me to check in every few months just to see how everything is going and see if there is anything that I can do to add value to their world.

I love how many people believe me and take the time to update me with what is going on with them, and maybe even see what is going on in my world.

I still have people that don’t seem to understand why I am calling them. I believe that the best thing that I can do is show you that you matter to me, not just as a means to buying and selling homes. I love calling people 3 months and 6 months after they have bought a house to check in. Most people believe (correctly) that most realtors are going to forget about you after they help you. I love showing that I really do want to stay connected.

I realize that I am calling during the work day and that you might not have much time. I still love to hear what is going on with you.

Now to the market:

If you are thinking about selling, the numbers say to list now instead of waiting for Spring weather. Here is why I say that:

First, two numbers from January of this year:

There were 11.7% more homes for sale in January 2019 (3,478) vs January 2018 (3,114)

Pending Home Sales for the Month of January was down 18.3% for the month of January 2019 (856) vs January 2018 (1,048)

That means that there is already more competition (larger supply) and less buyers (smaller demand). Historically, the Spring months are the largest competition (supply) of the entire year.

What does that mean to you? It means that if you are waiting to list your house, you are also waiting to have more competition. List now and have fewer houses to compete with instead.

~Ryan Lynch

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Back to Crazy Low Interest Rates

What Type of Mortgage Do You Have?

Stop and Think

Client or Friend?

Which is More Important?

I Really Want to Know!

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